Another murder mystery for Agatha Raisin, the metropolitan outsider in the idyllic country village, where there is a crime to solve (who did it and why), but where the emphasis is much more on the interplay of characters, the development of relationships and the seemingly endless stream of eccentrics who may or may not have an oar to stick into the problem solving mechanism.

A dead body at a nudist colony and a slight whiff of pagan ritual are all we need to know before plunging in.

A warm bath of a murder mystery that amuses and satisfies without being too taxing. ( )

In this outlandish tale, both Toni and Agatha end up visiting a naturalist resort. Yes, they up naked in a nudist colony. In the quest to find first the dead body that a naked man says he has seen but which has disappeared, it seems they have no other choice but to infiltrate the resort as guests. This all happens innocently enough while they are on their way to attend a wedding. But that seems to be Agatha’s lot in life. The more bizarre the situation, the more likely she is to become embroiled in it. It’s quite a lot of fun with a bit a terror thrown for balance. R. W. Green seems to have made the character of Agatha Raisin his own. He may have changed Agatha a bit, but it’s all for the better. She is less caustic and more sympathetic, and much easier to like. ( )

Agatha and the Naturists
Review of the Minotaur Books hardcover edition (October 27, 2022)

I'm grateful to the prolific M.C. Beaton, pen-name of Marion Chesney (1936-2019) due to her great number of published works which helped me through the lockdown periods of the pandemic. During a time when even the libraries were closed there were a huge number of her Hamish Macbeth (now 35 novels from 1985 to 2023) and Agatha Raisin (now 33 novels from 1992 to 2022) cozy mysteries which were available for free via Audible Plus. I binged all of them and in that time of turmoil they provided the comfort of regular visits to the stable and virtually unchanging environments of the Scottish Highlands or the English Cotswalds.

Since Beaton's passing, her Estate has allowed continuation writer R.W. Green to carry on writing both of these regular series. Green had collaborated with Beaton on several books before her passing but is now the sole writer as of the 2022 issues. In those collaboration years, there was a tendency for Raisin and Macbeth to act somewhat uncharacteristically and even turn rather nasty at times. Whether these were from a 'raging against the dying of the light' or just attempts to make radical changes to the formula, they struck wrong notes for me and resulted a few 1 and 2 star reviews.

Based on the so far few continuation samples, Green has pulled back from the nastiness and returned to the cozy world of the originals. Agatha Raisin is still cranky at times, but is obviously caring about her friends and coworkers, and displays sensitivity and insecurity in her private moments. The continuation books still prominently display Beaton's name on the cover which is obviously a marketing tool to ensure they are filed together with the originals in bookstores and libraries.

Devil's Delight returns almost the entire cast of the Raisin series except for Roy Silver (who was usually one of the main sources of comedic fun). Ex-husband James is off script for the most part as he embarks on cruise ship for a commission to write a travel book. The often penurious Sir Charles Fraith is having a flush period and even drops 20 pounds into the honesty collection box when he and Agatha visit the Rollright Stones location (a subplot using the real-life historical neolithic site).

See photograph at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollright_Stones#/media/File:The_King's_Men_stone_...
A photograph of The King's Men of the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire, UK. Image sourced from Wikipedia.

The main case involves a disappearing body at the site of a naturist camp (UK speak for nudists) which of course provides for teasing humour throughout. The case requires both Agatha and her faithful assistant Toni to go 'undercover' so to speak, in order to solve the mystery. There are 2 other subplots to keep the rest of the staff at Raisin Investigations busy. Agatha has time to make two new romantic conquests, of whom one will likely make future appearances. Really the only downside here was that the villains were made to be quite obvious even from their first appearances, so there was no really mystery to the solution. Some old fans may quibble about changes in the series, but it is at least on a renewed steady course and provides a regular cozy read.

The next R.W. Green continuation book will be #35 in the Hamish Macbeth series Death of a Traitor, with an expected February 14, 2023 date of publication.

Trivia and No Link
Devil's Delight has not yet been adapted for the currently ongoing Agatha Raisin TV series (2016-). If they continue adapting the books roughly chronologically then it would be several years away from being adapted, assuming the TV series carries on that long. The naturist theme would likely require a major change in the plot for a TV adaptation. ( )

Most of my encounters with Agatha Raison have been via British TV. Portrayed as a very sleek, well dressed woman with a trademark blonde hairstyle her depiction as a rather petulant, impatient and snarky character in this book came as a surprise. There are naked people walking to and fro, amidst a murder or two and a few other crimes for the team at Raisin Investigations to solve.

Murder, a theft, another murder, getting naked, having an affair or two, another murder, you see how this is going. Not a bad story, not a great one either. As Agatha is wont to say at every turn
“Snakes and bastards” and they abound in this book.

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a copy. ( )

I’m not sure what adjectives to use to describe Agatha Raisin. She is obsessed with how she looks – hair, makeup, fashion. She definitely has anger management issues. Also, if she were a man, I would describe her as a womanizer – what is the female equivalent of that? She cannot maintain a close ongoing relationship with any man, yet she never quite lets go of them either. I really disliked her in the earlier books and wasn’t going to read any more in the series – but – things change. M.C. Beaton passed away and someone else is now writing the books, so I wondered if I would like her any better. While I didn’t come to like her in this book, she did seem a tad more vulnerable – softer – so she was more tolerable. I enjoyed the mysteries in the book – I think there were three of them and each of them was well presented – but you sort of knew who the culprits were before the case was solved. However, it was nice to see how Agatha and her team solved them – and proved them with evidence.

The first mystery involved thefts at a plant. The thefts were getting bigger and bigger and there seemed to be no clues. Cameras weren’t picking up anyone at the plant when they weren’t supposed to be. What use could anyone have for those particular items? Is it an inside job? How could anyone remove those bulky items without being noticed? Simon Black, a twenty-something with strange looks was assigned to solve the case – can he do it?

The second mystery is to be solved by Patrick Mulligan, a retired police officer. Patrick needs to discover how drugs are getting into a very prestigious girl's boarding school. How can he solve a drug problem at a school with all female students and almost no male staff? He’ll need someone inside the school. Who can he recruit? Certainly not a sixteen-year-old girl.

The primary mystery begins with a naked young man running down the road as fast as he can go. Yep – a good start, right? The young man, Edward Carstairs, is a member of the Mircrester Naturist Society (nudists), and he has just found a dead body. He manages to stop Agatha and Toni’s car and convince them to help him, but when they arrive at the monolithic stone known as the Lone Warrior, there is no body to be found. Agatha believes the tale the young man tells – but with no body and no signs of any crime, the police can’t/won’t help. Agatha is determined to find out what happened to the body and who murdered whoever it was. That determination drags Agatha and Toni into many strange goings on within the Naturist Society and outside of it. You’ll know who is guilty early on, but you won’t be sure – and you’ll wonder how Agatha will ever manage to prove it. When danger comes to both Agatha and Toni – and more murders are unveiled – it becomes a twisted tale indeed.

Nestled within the investigations are the tales of Agatha’s romantic life. She struggles with relationships with former lovers and husbands – and even brings a couple of new men into her wake. Will she ever make a mature decision about any of these men? Honestly, she reminds me of a fourteen-year-old girl with crush after crush, but no staying power.

In spite of my feelings about Agatha, I gave this book a 4-star rating because the mystery is excellent. Should you require a deep, meaningful romance in your mysteries, you won’t find this book or this series to your liking – but if shallow romance and bed play is good for you, you’ll like both the series and the book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )